BASKET FOR MACHINES USED TO MIX AND GRIND A NUMBER OF SUBSTANCES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF UNIFORM MIXTURES, SUCH AS THOSE EMPLOYED IN PAINTS

Abstract: Basket for machines for mixing and grinding a number of substances in order to produce uniform mixes, such as those used for paints, with the basket in question featuring along its perimeter a circular ring (1) bound at the inner and outer edges by micro-perforated walls (2 and 3), and with this ring functioning as a channel inside of which microspheres made of glass or of other suitable materials are placed; the central portion of the basket, when viewed from below, appears empty in the middle, with this space being bound along its perimeter by the circular channel (1).

Description: DESCRIPTION "BASKET FOR MACHINES USED TO MIX AND GRIND A NUMBER OF SUBSTAN¬ CES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF UNIFORM MIXTURES, SUCH AS THOSE EMPLO¬ YED IN PAINTS". TECHNIC FIELD Basket for machines for mixing and grinding a number of substances in order to produce uniform mixes, such as those used for paints, with the basket in question featuring along its perimeter a circular ring 1 bound at the inner and outer edges by micro—performated walls 2 and 3, and with this ring functioning as a channel inside of which micro—spheres made of glass or of other suitable materials are placed; the cen¬ tral portion of the basket, when viewed from below, appears empty in the middle, with this space being bound along its perimeter by the circular channel 1. BACK-GROUND ART there have long existed machines capable of mixing and grinding the elements that go into producing paints for the purpose of obtaining a uniform mix. These machines, created according to a variety of designs, have been placed under the protection of a number of patents, both Italian and foreign, by the same enterprise proposing the present patent applica¬ tion. In an earlier patent, held in Italy (1,211,658), Europe (89830011.6) and the United States (4,967,968) by the same enterprise, a description was given of a machine used for the simultaneous dispersion, mixing and grinding of a number of substances in order to obtain uniform mixes of a pre-establi- shed granular density, such as those employed in producing paints. The underlying principle for the operations of such a machine is the fact that the elements which go into the pro duction of the paint, meaning thefilm-generating substances, the pigments, the diluents, the plasticizers, the drying ele- ments and other potential components, are introduced in appro¬ priate doses into a receptacle and agitated inside a perfora¬ ted basket which contains a mixing element and numerous mar¬ bles or other elements made from glass or from suitable mate¬ rials. But although this machine makes it possible to obtain excelent mixtures, it is not capable of turning out, in short periods of time, a product which meets the demands of the more difficult finishing processes, such as paints for automobiles and similar uses. This difficulty is traceable to the fact that the basket in the traditional machine must operate using spheres which are excessively large. One solution to the problem would be to insert spheres of a much smaller diameter in the basket. In this case, how¬ ever, the size of the holes on the basket walls would also have to be reduced, and it has been found that, with smaller holes, the temperature of the material inside the basket beco¬ mes excessively high, due to the slow rate of exchange of the paint. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION The subject of the present invention is a basket for machi¬ nes used to mix and to grind a number of substances in order to obtain uniform mixes, such as those used to produce paints, ca¬ pable of resolving the aforementioned inconveniences, and, the¬ refore, permitting the production of paints for highly-refined finishing work in very short periods of time. The basket proposed in the present invention has the exter¬ nal form of a circular ring bounded both inside and outside by a circular surface perforated with small holes, while the central, upper portion, when viewed from above, is closed off by a circu- lap element with a small, central slot; in effect, the basket, whenviewed from above, and without the other elements which com¬ plete the assembly, has the appearance, as mentioned earlier, of a circular ring, with the ring forming a channel whose walls are perforated with small holes; when viewed from below, on the other hand, the outer channel proves to be closed, while the central portion is occupied by a space which is empty, but closed at the top. A fixed disc, or similar structure, is attached to the in¬ ternal shaft, which is coaxial to that of the machine. This disc, which presents along its entire surface a series of obliquely- shaped cuts laid out in a radial array, plus a number of ele¬ ments attached perpendicularly to its bottom portion, where they serve as mixers, is placed on top of the basket, on the side on which the channel is open, in such a way that the mi- xing elements are positioned inside the channel itself. The basket assembly is completed by a circular-shaped element which closes it off from above, and which comes with a central con¬ necting piece for attachment to the motor shaft. Inside the basket, or, to be more precise, inside the channel formed by the perforated walls, are inserted a certain number of small spheres made from glass, for example, or from some other material. The basket, connected to a machine for the production of paints - a machine already covered by other patents held by the same enterprise - is inserted in a receptacle in which the substances to be mixed have been introduced. Made to rotate by this machine, the basket's special configuration, as described earlier, creates a situation in which the product to be mixed is forcefully sucked into the basket through the lateral, micro- perforated walls located on the inside of the circular ring, where it is ground and amalgamated to a perfect state by the small spheres, which are set in motion both by the rotation of the basket itself and by collisions with the mixing elements, following which the product leaves the basket through the exter¬ nal, micro—perforated walls, establishing inside the basket a continuous and powerful exchange of the material being proces¬ sed, while making it possible to use, in place of normal sphe¬ res, spheres with a decidedly smaller diameter, which, as men¬ tioned earlier,significantly improve the quality of the finished product, in particular when it is to be used for specialized fi¬ nishing work. The elements briefly illustrated tip to this point can be better understood in the detailed description that follows, ma¬ king reference to the designs enclosed as appendices, in which: Fig. 1 shows a view of the basket from above, without the internal disc or the cover; Fig. 2 shows a view of the basket from above, with the in¬ ternal disc; Fig. 3 shows a view of the basket from above, with all its parts; Fig. 4 shows a view of the basket from below; Fig. 5 shows a view of the layout of the disc from the side which normally faces the inside of the basket; Fig. 6 shows a side-view of the basket; With regard to these illustrations, and in particular to Fig. 1, the basket featured in the present invention, when seen from above, appears in the form of a circular-shaped ring 1, which is bound on the outside by a micro-perforatede wall 2, and on the inside by a micro—perfoarted wall 3, in such a way that the ring consists, in effect, of a channel bound on both sides, 2 and 3, by micro—perforated walls. The central portion of the basket, again when viewed from above, is closed off with a circular element, whose own center contains a series of small slits 5. When viewed from below, as illustrated in Figure 4, the basket appears with the portion corresponding to the circular ring 1 being closed and bounded by an empty central space.The basket, when viewed from above, as shown in Fig. 2, is covered with a fixed disc 6, which is of one piece with the internal shaft, itself coaxial to the drive shaft of the machine (not shown); the principal characteristics of the disc are the pre¬ sence of a series of slots positioned in a radial layout and cut at a rising slant, in such a way that the small spheres circulating inside the basket while the machine is in opera- tion are sent back into the circular section, plus a number of elements, 3 in the example, which are of one piece with the internal face of the disc 6, and which serve to agitate the spheres when the basket is set in motion. Placed above the disc 6, to close off the basket, is the cover 9, which pre- sents at its center the support piece 10 for attachment to the motor of the mixing machine which sets the basket in mo¬ tion during the actual operations. A small hole equipped with a tap makes it possible to replace any spheres which have worn out during the operations of the machine. Naturally, the cover 6 is attached by screws or by other sealing devices to the body of the basket. The basket, as described up to this point, makes it possi¬ ble, as mentioned earlier, to prepare highly-refined paint mi¬ xes, given that it is designed to create, inside the circular section 1 of the basket, a continuous, driven exchange of the material to be processed once the basket is set in motion by the mixing machine inside the container where the materials to be processed are introduced. The configuration of the basket desi¬ gned around the circular ring 1, at the active portion of the basket, creates a situation in which the material to be proces sed is forcefully sucked into the basket through the micro—per forated internal walls 3, where it is refined and amalgamated by the micro—spheres present inside the circular ring 1, at which point it is discharged through the external micro—perfo rated walls 2 of the circular ring, creating, inside this ring 1, a level of motion and exchange of the materials which is de cidedly higher than the level made possible using the traditio nal basket, with the result being a more effective cooling of the materials being processed, due also to the small size of the holes on the walls of the basket, and making possible the use of micro-spheres which, as mentioned earlier, permit the pro¬ duction of more highly-refined mixes in short periods of time for special paints, such as those used on automobiles. The same operating principal described and illustrated above also makes it possible, despite the fact that the walls of the basket, as mentioned eralier, are perfoarted with very small holes in oreder to keep the small spheres from escaping, to obtain easy cleaning of the basket when changing from one mixing process to the next, thanks to the evacuation of the basket produced by the centrifugal forces when the it is ro¬ tated at high speed, with the result that, by simply immersing the basket in a solvent and operating the machine for a few mi nutes, perfect cleaning is achieved with a inin-imai waste of solvent and obvious advantages in terms of both cost-savings and pollution.

Claims: C L A I M S 1. — Basket for machines for mixing and grinding a number of substances in order to produce uniform mixes, such as those used for paints, with the basket in question featuring along its perimeter a circular ring 1 bound at the inner and outer edges by micro-perforated walls 2 and 3, and with this ring functioning as a channel inside of vdiich micro-spheres made of glass or of other suitable materials are placed; the central portion of the basket, when viewed from below, appears empty in the middle, with this space being bound along its perime¬ ter by the circular channel 1. 2. - Basket designed according to claim 1, distinguished by the fact that, on the side of the basket holding the circu lar channel with its micro-spheres, a disc 6, or similar struc ture, is inserted, with this disc being attached to the inter¬ nal shaft, which is coaxial to the drive shaft of the machine, and with this same disc presenting a series of slots 7 cut to an appropriate lenght, on an upward slant, and arranged in a radial layout; this disc will also be equipped, on the side facing into the channel 1, with a certain number of perpendi cular elements, 3 in the example shown, which, when inserted in the channel, contribute to setting the micro—spheres in motion when the basket is made to rotate by the mixing machine. 3. - Basket designed according to claims 1 and 2, distin guished by the fact that, again on the side into which the - io ¬ dise 6 is inserted, the basket is closed off with a cover 9 at¬ tached by screws or with similar sealing devices to the basket 6, and presenting at its center a juncture for the mounting of the basket on the grinding machine, plus a hole 11 through which micro—spheres vdiich have worn out during the operating process can be replaced. 4. - Basket designed according to the p)receding claims, distinguished by the fact that, due to the presence of the cir cular ring 1 along the perimeter, bound by micro-perforated walls 2 and 3, a central empty space is created in the portion of the basket facing the bottom of the container in which the basket has been immersed, with the resulting vacuum action fa voring and increasing the force with vdiich the materials to be processed flow through the micro—perforated walls 2 and 3 to the inside of the channel.

Inventors: VITELLI RENATO, VITELLI, RENATO
Applicants: MIRODUR ENG SRL, VITELLI RENATO, MIRODUR ENGINEERING S.R.L., VITELLI, RENATO
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B01F7
IPC codes: B01F5, B01F7, B01F13, B02C17